This invention relates generally to ultrasonic inspection and more particularly to automatically generating ultrasonic inspection planning.
Ultrasonic inspection is a commonly used technique to inspect various manufactured parts for defects. In particular, ultrasonic inspection is a primary method of identifying processing and melt-related defects in rotating components used in jet engines. In the manufacture of such rotating component parts, a billet of the raw material, such as titanium, used to manufacture the part is formed from a cropped cylindrical ingot. The billets are cut into a series of pieces called mults, and each piece is forged into a xe2x80x9csonic shapexe2x80x9d forging that approximates the desired shape of: the part. The forgings are subsequently machined to form the finished part.
It is common to ultrasonically inspect the sonic shape forging for defects prior to the final machining process. To conduct an inspection, the forging is ordinarily immersed in water or another fluid and rotated about its center axis, and the surfaces of the forging are scanned with one or more ultrasonic transducers. The transducers emit pulses of ultrasonic energy that impinge on the forging and receive ultrasound waves reflected from the forging. The reflected waves are electronically processed into signals that can be displayed as a two-dimensional image, from which representations of defects and flaws can be identified.
Normally, an ultrasonic inspection plan is developed for each part design to insure that the forgings are fully and consistently inspected. Developing such an inspection plan involves determining inspection parameters such as the speed (in RPM) at which the forging will be rotated, the surface speed of the forging, how fast the transducer will be indexed with respect to the forging, pulse repetition rate and scan length. Typically, these parameters are manually calculated using a standard set ultrasonic inspection planning formulas. However, this process often requires many calculations (typically about 200-300), and is thus time consuming and increases the possibility of one or more errors.
Furthermore, it is not uncommon for part forgings to be provided by more than one forging shop or supplier. In this case, each supplier generally develops its own ultrasonic inspection planning, which is then reviewed and approved by the customer. This results in a multitude of inspection planning formats that require extensive review for approval. This approach can also produce inspection variability from site-to-site, which causes inconsistent inspection results.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and means for generating ultrasonic inspection planning on a quick, consistent basis.
The above-mentioned need is met by the present invention, which provides a method and a tool for automatically generating an ultrasonic inspection plan for a part. The invention includes collecting data relating to the ultrasonic inspection planning by displaying an input screen that prompts a user to input the pertinent data. The inspection parameters to be used in the ultrasonic inspections are then calculated from the collected data, and the calculated parameters are formatted into an inspection plan document. The tool can be implemented on any computer-readable medium.
The present invention and its advantages over the prior art will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings.